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Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Vatican City, 13 May 2015 (VIS) – The
Bilateral Commission of the Holy See and the State of Palestine,
which is working on a Comprehensive Agreement following on the Basic
Agreement, signed on 15 February 2000, has held a Plenary Session in
the Vatican to acknowledge the work done at an informal level by the
joint technical group following the last official meeting held in
Ramallah at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the State of Palestine
on 6 February 2014.

The talks were chaired by Mgr Antoine
Camilleri, Under-Secretary for the Holy See’s Relations with
States, and by Ambassador Rawan Sulaiman, Assistant Minister of
Foreign Affairs for Multilateral Affairs of the State of Palestine.

The discussions took place in a cordial
and constructive atmosphere. Taking up the issues already examined at
an informal level, the Commission noted with great satisfaction the
progress achieved in formulating the text of the Agreement, which
deals with essential aspects of the life and activity of the Catholic
Church in Palestine.

Both Parties agreed that the work of
the Commission on the text of the Agreement has been concluded, and
that the agreement will be submitted to the respective authorities
for approval ahead of setting a date in the near future for the
signing.

The members of the Delegation of the
Holy See were Msgr. Antoine Camilleri, under-secretary for Relations
with States; Archbishop Giuseppe Lazzarotto, apostolic delegate to
Jerusalem and Palestine; Archbishop Antonio Franco, apostolic nuncio;
Fr. Luciano Lorusso, under-secretary of the Congregation for the
Oriental Churches; Msgr. Alberto Ortega, official of the Section for
Relations with States of the Secretariat of State; and Fr. Emil
Salayta, judicial vicar of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

The members of the Palestinian
Delegation were Ambassador Rawan Sulaiman, assistant minister of
foreign affairs for multilateral affairs; Ambassador Issa Kassissieh,
representative of the State of Palestine to the Holy See; Ammar
Hijazi, and deputy assistant minister of foreign affairs for
multilateral affairs; and Azem Bishara, legal adviser of the PLO.